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Message no. 1
From: Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 09:35:34 +0000
Personally I've just seen Johnny Mnemonic (again) and I'm planning to
put on Judge Dredd soon.

(I haven't been able to find Johnny Pneumonic yet).

I'm considering putting on Ninja Scrolls, but that's more for
'Those special gimmick NPC's' than ordinary SR.
(Still is a damn good movie, though.).

Another detail....

I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
problem? I probably haven't made it clear enough they were hired for
their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they then refuse
to think.. well.

I guess I'll have to make it clear.

(Besides, even if that wasn't the point, I still can't see what the
point is in me making the decisions for them... if so, why play?)



--
Fade

And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost
Message no. 2
From: Alfredo B Alves <dghost@****.COM>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 03:14:09 -0500
On Mon, 1 Jun 1998 09:35:34 +0000 Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO> writes:
<SNIP Movies>
>Another detail....
>
>I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
>REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
>what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
>problem? I probably haven't made it clear enough they were hired for
>their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they then refuse
>to think.. well.
>
>I guess I'll have to make it clear.
>
>(Besides, even if that wasn't the point, I still can't see what the
>point is in me making the decisions for them... if so, why play?)
>
>
>
>--
>Fade
<SNIP Sig>

Why not make the boss unreachable (and make this clear at the start so
they don't flip out trying to track down the boss instead of pulling the
run) (ie "I want you to do this run for me. While you are pulling it,
I'll be ... uhm ... let's just say I'll be indisposed I trust you can
handle any ... complications?" Then if they still try and contact the
boss ... kill them ... then kill the characters ... heh heh <j/k> ... :)

D.Ghost
(aka Pixel, Tantrum, and RuPixel)
"Let he who is without SIN cast the first stone"

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Message no. 3
From: Adam J <fro@***.AB.CA>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 02:29:49 -0600
At 09:35 01/06/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Personally I've just seen Johnny Mnemonic (again) and I'm planning to
>put on Judge Dredd soon.

Grad was Saturday. Guess what I was doing most of the night and into the
morning? >:)

>I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
>REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
>what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
>problem? I probably haven't made it clear enough they were hired for
>their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they then refuse
>to think.. well.

Well -- best choice IMO is put them into situations where they can't get
into contact with 'the boss' for some reason. Drop them into places where
they can't communicate with him, and have the information that he gave them
in advance be incorrect, partially incomplete, etc.

Also, situations where they don't Have an employer may help -- 'so and so's
brother got killed, you have to track down the killer' type stuff...

-Adam J
Who is still not feeling all that well.
-
http://www.interware.it/users/adamj \ fro@***.ab.ca \ ICQ# 2350330
ShadowRN Assistant Fearless Leader \ FreeRPG Webring \ TSS Productions
The Shadowrun Supplemental \ SR Archive Co-Maintainer \ RPGA Reviwer
"So Marilyn Manson is a criticism of gimmickry while being itself a gimmick."
--- Marilyn Manson
Message no. 4
From: Spike <u5a77@*****.CS.KEELE.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 16:45:30 +0100
And verily, did Fade hastily scribble thusly...
|I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
|REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
|what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
|problem?

Never heard of that one before.
What I always do is, have a Mr Johnson meet them, give them their job and
the details of return and payment and leave them NO info on contacting him
until the preset, post-run time. They have little choice but to work
independantly)

I probably haven't made it clear enough they were hired for
|their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they then refuse
|to think.. well.
|
|I guess I'll have to make it clear.

All you have to do is break the links to their boss.
If they no how to contact him, have him go on vacation leaving his mobile
phone so that he CAN'T be contacted.


Common sense really....
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk| Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
|Andrew Halliwell | operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
|Principal Subjects in:- |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
|Comp Sci & Electronics | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|GCv3.1 GCS/EL>$ d---(dpu) s+/- a- C++ U N++ o+ K- w-- M+/++ PS+++ PE- Y t+ |
|5++ X+/++ R+ tv+ b+ D G e>PhD h/h+ !r! !y-|I can't say F**K either now! :( |
Message no. 5
From: rabiola <rabiola@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 10:34:50 -0500
I'm considering putting on Ninja Scrolls, but that's more for
'Those special gimmick NPC's' than ordinary SR.
(Still is a damn good movie, though.).

Hadn't seen that one, will have to look for it.

I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
problem? I probably haven't made it clear enough they were hired for
their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they then refuse
to think.. well.

Treat them like kids til they get their act together. Put the boss out
of reach, don't return their calls, etc. They will either wise up or
wither up as the funds dry out and no one calls them for runs because
they cannot act independantly.

Tony Rabiola rabiola@**.netcom.com
Fourth and Sixth World Adept
Still working on the Fifth...
Message no. 6
From: Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 22:11:58 +0000
Spike wrote:
> And verily, did Fade hastily scribble thusly...
> |I'm having a problem with the current campaign. The runners
> |REFUSE to work independently. They always call 'the boss' to ask for
> |what they shall do next, what to do, etcetera. Is that a common
> |problem?

> All you have to do is break the links to their boss.
> If they no how to contact him, have him go on vacation leaving his mobile
> phone so that he CAN'T be contacted.
>
>
> Common sense really....

If it was that easy, I would have done that allready. It's not a
regular situation. They're working with a rebellion on a group of
small islands. If they suddenly can't contact the rebels, then that
means the rebels are most likely gone, and no need for further work.
(I have allready made it clear that if they use radios, they can be
located, that *should* be enough, right?). And I asked wether it was
a common problem, not for solutions.. most solutions are fairly
obvious, as you point out.




--
Fade

And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost
Message no. 7
From: Cobra <wgallas@*****.FR>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 01:11:59 +0200
> If it was that easy, I would have done that allready. It's not a
> regular situation. They're working with a rebellion on a group of
> small islands. If they suddenly can't contact the rebels, then that
> means the rebels are most likely gone, and no need for further work.
> (I have allready made it clear that if they use radios, they can be
> located, that *should* be enough, right?). And I asked wether it was
> a common problem, not for solutions.. most solutions are fairly
> obvious, as you point out.

You have 2 possibilities :

* First, your players like to play executives without bothering about
the why and how. In that case, look at the characters as executives
and not as standard shadowrunners. Change the campaign to fit their
pleasure by making them corp runners. During the campaign, hide a
plot which will repeatidly show some hints. By the time, I think
they'll be interested by this red line (typical frensh expression, I
don't know if it applies to english as well... :) and will try to
know a bit more. Anyway, with the time passing, make their lives a
bit more difficult and require them to take more and more initiative
(but not too much at the beginning). If you need it, kill one or two
of them to show them that they need to understand what's going on.
The main word for all this solution is long planned manipulation
which seems appropriate for corporations (and for SR in general :)

* Second, you want them to play shadowrunners. That could be the case
if they play differently in other games for exemple. In that case,
perhaps some manipulations and treachery could make them wonder a bit
more. If not, you could try some runs based on films where the
characters need to do some legwork. Such a run would be quite since
they would know a part of the story (only a part because you would
have changed it a bit) but could give them the feel of investigation.
Another thing you could do is to give them some investigative run. If
they really have problems to do such thing, make the plot very linear
by sending a lot of hints (many published modules are like this).

If you tried all these propositions or think they wouldn't work, try
to explain a bit more the way they play and the kind of games you
have.


    -
Cobra.                   =
                      
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Message no. 8
From: Bryan Borich <Kagehira@***.COM>
Subject: Re: What did you do on your list downtime?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 22:06:15 EDT
In a message dated 6/1/98 9:19:47 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
rabiola@**.NETCOM.COM writes:

<< They always call 'the boss' to ask for what they shall do next, what to do,
etcetera. Is that a common problem? I probably haven't made it clear enough
they were hired for their ability to think rather than to shoot.. when they
then refuse
to think.. well. >>

Well there's a few ways around this....."Sorry this number has been
disconnected and there is no new number, please check the number you dialed
again", "There's no such address, you sure you wrote that down right..."
"Let me see, your pay, minus my commission, plus my share for leading you
chummers...."
"You wanna talk to who??? The former ????, sorry he's no longer in business
and your next....."

Bryan

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